This research project will develop the methods necessary to investigate the determinants of alcoholic relapse from the perspective of behavioral-economic theories of choice. Earlier work on the relapse problem supports this type of analysis, which seeks to identify the environmental contexts within which alcohol consumption emerges from among a set of behavioral alternatives as the most preferred activity, as during relapse episodes following periods of abstinence. Theories of choice suggest that such shifts may be a function of two classes of variables: (1) the direct constraints on access to alcohol, and (2) other activities that are available and the constraints on access to them. Because alcohol is readily available in most natural environments, the main empirical task is to determine how changes in the availability of other activities and the surrounding environmental contexts converge to produce increased preferences for alcohol consumption. The proposed research will address this issue using male alcoholic subjects who received inpatient treatment for their alcohol problems. During Project Years 1 and 2, two method development studies will be conducted to arrive at data gathering procedures and definitional criteria that allow the demarcation of molar environmental contexts (MECs) of temporal extent that entail changes in constraints on individuals' access to valued activities other than alcohol in primary life-health areas (e.g., job, marriage). Then, the MECs and their transitions can be related to post-treatment alcohol consumption patterns of individual alcoholics after discharge. Variables of interest include the measurement of subjects' resources (mainly money), the relationship between work and income, consumption expenditures and how expenditures are allocated among commodity classes (including alcohol), and the classes of life-events that demarcate MECs and MEC transitions. Separate initial studies will develop measures of these variables for use in both pre- and post-treatment assessments. Then, during Project Years 3 and 4, these improved methods will be employed in a 1-year prospective follow-up study of the determinants of relapse in 100 alcoholics after discharge. The main hypothesis being investigated is that relapses after treatment will be more likely to occur if the MECs that were associated with high levels of alcohol consumption during the pre-treatment interval are reinstated during the post-treatment period.